Coventry City Council claims it is now meeting two thirds of the targets it has set in a bid to become a ‘top ten city’ - having missed more than half less than six months ago.

The dramatic shift comes after the council re-jigged the performance measures it sets itself in July.

The authority had consistently missed more than half of the targets set since the ten-year plan was first unveiled in January 2014.

The council says being a ‘top ten city’ means being a “city dedicated to improving the lives of local people and attracting big name businesses to create jobs and raise the profile of Coventry around the UK and the world.”

A total of 64 headline measures are now used by the council to measure its performance, although only 57 have been published in its half-year progress report.

The figures show 18 of the 57 targets have been missed, while 39 have been achieved - meaning almost a third of the reported targets have not been met.

However, the council report suggests the authority is improving in 33 areas, while 14 stayed the same or got worse. There were 17 areas that the report said couldn’t be measured.

Could Coventry become a "top 10" city?

Measures used to determine performance include things such as crime levels, business rates and council tax collected, employment, education and health measures.

The report is due to be reviewed by the authority’s cabinet on January 5 before going to full council on January 13. It comes against a backdrop of severe cuts implemented by the council.

The Labour council says it will have had to cut £130million from its budget since 2010 by 2020 as a result of the, firstly coalition and now Conservative, central government halving its annual support grant.

A further £17m of savings are predicted in next year’s budget - including hundreds more job losses and a two per cent council tax rise.

One area in the performance report where the council fell short included the base level of business rates which was almost £2m short of its £299m target.

Others included low recycling rates, underachieving primary and secondary schools, high smoking rates, too many children in care and high teenage pregnancy numbers.

Some areas where the council met or exceeded expectations included the number of businesses in the city, an increase in city centre visitors, employments rates, average pay, crime rates and homelessness.